The Book Thief has moments of brilliance, thanks largely to an adept cast.

Yet the movie about a girl adopted by a German couple during World War II crystallizes the
perils of book adaptations.

Based on a best-selling novel, the movie tries heartily to contain the myriad plot points from
writer Markus Zusak. The result, though, is a rushed conclusion, which tempers the intended
tear-jerking climax.

The sticky-fingered title character is Liesel. With bouncy blond hair and big, sad eyes, actress
Sophie Nelisse utterly embodies the role of a girl given up for adoption shortly after her brother
dies.

When her on-the-run communist mother can no longer care for her, Liesel is taken in by Hans
(Geoffrey Rush) and Rosa (Emily Watson). The child bonds with her new father, a smiling accordion
player who calls Liesel “your majesty.”

Rosa is more standoffish and looks constantly for excuses to yell. (She finds many.)

Despite her tendency to pick up lost books, Liesel can’t read or write, and that momentarily
makes her a punch line at school.

One bully learns quickly, however, that, although Liesel can’t spell, she can fight, and that’s
just the first hint of her tenacious personality.

After Hans teaches her to read, Liesel’s world begins to expand, both through stories from books
she sneakily “borrows” and in a reality informed by an oppressive regime.

In the German village, she finds reasons to be optimistic — thanks to a friendship with another
youngster, Rudy (Nico Liersch). But she also comes to understand the saddest repercussion of Third
Reich rule after a man named Max stops at the family’s door one night.

The son of an old friend of Hans’, Max is Jewish and on the run, and he ends up hiding in the
family’s basement.

There is plenty here to create both an emotional payoff and a healthy dose of suspense. But
director Brian Percival squanders the opportunities by squeezing many other subplots into the
two-hour running time.

Those threads have the space to breathe and evolve in a novel, but, in the film version of the
story, less would have been more.

Still,
The Book Thief has its pleasures.

Along with a memorable performance from Nelisse, Rush and Watson prove their impressive
ranges.

Despite the dark themes, several scenes of gentle comedy are traced mostly to the facial
expressions and delivery of Rush and Watson.

Ben Schnetzer, who plays Max, hasn’t acted in many films, but his performance is indelible as an
older-brother figure trying to protect Liesel from the terrifying realities of the times.

From the pristinely shot scenes of a train chugging through a snowy landscape that open the
film,
The Book Thief has a sleekness to it.

That feeling is mirrored in a plot that seems whitewashed in some ways.

For example, Rosa discusses cutting back on meals now that the family must provide for its new
additions, but we see no depictions of hunger or suffering.

Just as Max tempers the reality for Liesel, the movie does the same for viewers.

That ensures a PG-13 rating and a broader audience, of course. But, when the delivery is
blunted, the audience’s emotions tend to follow suit.